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"If they could read minds, they would guess a lot more accurately," she says. "Now, portraits, portraits are a different story. A magical painting with the right infusions can preserve a more or less accurate copy of someone's personality, and they can talk and remember things. I don't know how it's done, but I don't think Legilimency is involved. There might be some of the same magic that goes into Pensieves... do you want me to look that up, too?"

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"Not any you'd want to meet," says Maria. "The last Lalonde to get her portrait done before she died was a nasty old lady with strong opinions about blood purity; I've had her frozen in an attic since my wedding. And then there's Grandma Antoinette, but she only speaks French."